The oil and gas industry regularly utilizes storage tanks for a variety of reasons, including drilling mud storage, process feed tanks, liquid separation and sludge storage. Such activities are carried out in remote locations such as an oil field or refinery. Also, such activities require the use of more than one storage tank to ensure proper capacity and/or to store different required materials.
Often, the need for these storage tanks is only temporary as particular activities, such as drilling an oil well, are performed. Once the activity requiring the use of a storage tank is completed, the need for the storage tank no longer exists at that location. Each such storage tank delivered then must be moved to a new location.
A variety of equipment rental companies exist that offer such storage tanks for rent. Many equipment rental companies only offer storage tanks that are generally in a horizontal configuration. However, some rental companies offer storage tanks that are generally in a vertical configuration, which occupies less ground surface area than an equivalent volume tank in a horizontal configuration. There are numerous advantages to using storage tanks in a vertical position, including the ability to offer cone bottom tanks which are easier to empty and to clean. Another advantage of vertically configured storage tanks include allowing for closer placement to the desired activity, such as to the drilling rig.
The drawback of using a vertically configured tank is that they cannot be transported in a vertical position. Therefore, they must be transported to the desired location in a horizontal configuration and then placed in a vertical configuration once at the project site. Conventional delivery systems contemplate a truck towing a trailer with the vertical tank stowed on the trailer in a horizontal position. In addition to the truck, a crane must accompany the truck to remove the tank from the trailer and also lift the tank from a horizontal position to a vertical position. The use of additional equipment, such as a crane adds to the transactional cost of delivering and retrieving the storage tanks. Moreover, the use of a crane requires the use of additional skilled labor, further adding to the transactional cost.
The more efficiently a rental company can deliver and set up storage tanks the more competitive a rental company can offer rental storage tank services. Thus, there is a need for a system of delivering vertically configured storage tanks that minimizes the equipment and labor necessary to deliver, move the tank from a horizontal position to a vertical position, and position the vertical storage tank in the proper position. There is a further need to be able to efficiently move a vertically configured storage tank whether in a vertical position or horizontal position.